The design and use of synthetic communities, or SynComs, is one of the most promising strategies for disentangling the complex interactions within microbial communities, and between these communities and their hosts. Compared to natural communities, these simplified consortia provide the opportunity to study ecological interactions at tractable scales, as well as facilitating reproducibility and fostering interdisciplinary science. However, the effective implementation of the SynCom approach requires several important considerations regarding the development and application of these model systems. There are also emerging ethical considerations when both designing and deploying SynComs in clinical, agricultural or environmental settings. Here we outline current best practices in developing, implementing and evaluating SynComs across different systems, including a focus on important ethical considerations for SynCom research.

合成群落 （SynComs） 的设计和使用是解开微生物群落内部以及这些群落与其宿主之间复杂相互作用的最有前途的策略之一。与自然群落相比，这些简化的联盟提供了在可处理的尺度上研究生态相互作用的机会，以及促进可重复性和促进跨学科科学。然而，SynCom 方法的有效实施需要考虑这些模型系统的开发和应用方面的几个重要因素。在临床、农业或环境环境中设计和部署 SynCom 时，也出现了新的伦理考虑。在这里，我们概述了当前跨不同系统开发、实施和评估 SynCom 的最佳实践，包括关注 SynCom 研究的重要道德考虑因素。